For those of you still suffering from hunger after surgery

I was reading another sleeve board and came across this interesting info posted by one of the moderators.  I thought i would share what she posted as it may help some of you.( note this is from an Australian Board.)

"Last week when i saw my dietitian she told me about "empty gut syndrome" .... i briefly mentioned it in my diary, and then in a thread somewhere... but because i have had a few people ask me what this is, and i have also seen a few people describe the symptoms of it, and not know what it is, i thought i would share what i learnt from my FANTASTIC dietitian last week!!

Bare with me and ill try and explain BUT...

Before surgery our stomachs used a massaging technique that would massage and digest the food AS WE ATE. This is how we could eat so much because say as the 6th or 7th mouthful was going in, the 1st was already on its way out into the intestines.

Now because our stomachs have had MASSIVE disruption to the nerves, our stomach DOES NOT massage the food through, due to the nerves being cut (this happens when the portion of stomach is removed), they do not repair until approx 3 months post surgery.

So Currently, our stomachs work on a pressure system to get the food into our intestines. This means pressure between the valve at the top of the stomach and at the bottom of the stomach.

What it now does is just fill up, and the valve at the bottom will not open to let food through until the stomach is full of food, that touches the valve at the top- then giving the signal there is no room in here- creating pressure.

This then causes enough pressure WHICH then is where " empty gut syndrome " kicks in because the valve's and preassure empty's the contents of our tummy's all in one go, instead of the old way of bit by bit.....

This is why we can feel hungry every hour to two hours, and can mean important to graze if you find your tummy is doing this. Of course this is just in the first 3 months, and its important to choose the right foods to graze on. i.e potato chips although wouldn't be the worst, itd be better to choose rice crackers or a cruskit, or a coffee etc etc

It will change, our stomachs WILL start doing what it used to do, after 3 months. Once all the nerves have healed they will once again start massaging the food through AS WE EAT it, hence allowing us to eat that bit more than at the start.

But, for the moment, this is what we get ;)"  
 

Interesting. I was really hungry often the first few months. I think it was the beginning of month 4 when I realized I was going over a half day before I would eat. Now I have to remind myself to eat in the mornings.

I do still feel hunger, but not unless I haven't eaten anything for many hours (which I try not to let happen, meaning I'm rarely ever hungry anymore).

Interesting, I've never heard that before!  I can say it makes sense based on my own experience... I started getting super-uncomfortably hungry about 6 weeks out, but then right about the 3 month mark or so, that went away.  I do still get minor hunger twinges, more like a "it's time to eat" sensation than actual hunger, but it's SO mild compared to those few weeks, or compared to before surgery.  Thanks for the article!  

Great information!  Thanks for sharing.

Oh yeah, I read that on that forum the other day and I thought it was quite interesting.

That makes so much sense, doesn't it? So glad the nerves will heal and all will get better in the future. Such a helpful post - that's so much for posting this!

Thank you for the info. I learn something every day from this board.

LOL - THANKS so much for posting this!

Thanks so much for the post. I makes so much sense.

Thanks for sharing this info!